She hoped that was true too.
“Your partner relies on law and order,” said Joko Daishi. “They will fail him, just as they have failed you. But you, you have abandoned your former keepers. You have fallen into the den of iniquity that is the Wind.”
His voice echoed weirdly in the tunnel; it was impossible to tell if he was near or far. Mariko tightened her grip on Glorious Victory and settled her weight into her feet. It wasn’t easy, balancing on this ledge while holding something as long and heavy as an odachi. She wanted to angle the sword toward the tunnel wall, erring on the side of caution; if a train came, just nicking it with the tip of her sword would knock her off the ledge. But if Joko Daishi was closer than she thought, angling the sword that way would allow him to trap it against the wall, leaving her defenseless.
She didn’t know what to do. She’d never trained for a situation like this. And now a low rumble shivered throughout the tunnel. Another train was coming.
“They are deceivers,” Joko Daishi said. “Purveyors of false truths.”
“So are you. They trained you.”
“Born of the Wind, yet not of the Wind. That is my nature. I am the light. I am the brightest fire.”
For a moment Mariko thought she saw him glow. A faint light brightened the far end of the tunnel. It came from just around the bend. Then Mariko snapped out of it. The truth was simple: crazy people didn’t glow. Train headlights did. But just for a moment, she’d been so scared that she actually started to believe him.
“Where are you?” she shouted. “Get on the ledge! Let me bring you out of here alive.”
“You do not understand life. You do not understand death. I will show you their true nature.”
She couldn’t tell if that was a threat or the prelude to a sermon. She took sliding steps forward, her feet grating through years’ worth of dust and grit. The ledge quaked under her feet, not from the train but just from the noise of it.
“You’re sick, Koji-san. Let me help you. Just tell me where you are.”
“I am everywhere. I am the light that disperses all shadows. Come to me, child; I will show you.”
A wall of air hit Mariko in the face. A rumbling came with it, growing louder by the second. Glorious Victory shuddered, cutting the wind just like a rudder. The sword wrestled against her with a will of its own. A trembling glow grew brighter and brighter around the bend. Light consumed the far side of the tunnel, pitching Mariko’s side deeper into shadow.
“Let me help you!” She had to shout at the top of her lungs. “Where are you?”
“I am here.”
He stepped out from the shadow right in front of her, close enough for Glorious Victory to touch him. In the instant he stepped forward, the train rounded the curve. Its lights hurled his shadow at her, so vividly that she actually had to jump back.
When she landed she lost her balance. The ledge wasn’t wide enough for a decent kenjutsu stance. She teetered on the edge, millimeters from the train cars that would smash her bones to pulp.
Joko Daishi stepped forward. With one hand he brushed Glorious Victory aside, pressing it toward the wall. He was inside her reach now; she was defenseless. But his push moved the sword like a counterweight, allowing Mariko to regain her balance.
She twisted the sword, trying to drive the edge into him. He stepped in, grabbed her hand, and twisted back. Now she was locked into his range. She should have been two meters away, taking him apart piece by piece. Instead she was close enough to punch him—close enough for him to reach out and grab her by the hair.
It wasn’t a great hold. It didn’t even hurt that much. Mariko knew three different escapes from it, including one that would break his wrist and end the fight right there. But for that she needed mobility and she needed to be able to reach him. Her right hand was stuck, clamped on to Glorious Victory by Joko Daishi’s iron-hard grip. With her left she could reach the hand that was grabbing her, but she couldn’t hit any vital targets. She tried kicking him, but that was when he started pulling her head toward the train.
The train cars lit his face stroboscopically, so she got a good look at the childlike curiosity in